Labour's reckless spending revealed: The £1.2 trillion cost of Corbyn

The Conservatives can today reveal the true cost of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party – the figures that John McDonnell did not want people to see. In total, Corbyn’s Labour has committed to an additional spending splurge of £1.2 trillion over the next five years if they get elected.

Labour plans amount to increasing Government spending by 30%, this is three times more than even Gordon Brown increased the size of the state by, after the financial crisis.

This extra spending – an extra £650 million a day – is the equivalent of funding the entire NHS budget for nine years.

When taken over a five-year period – the expected length of the next Parliament – Labour’s 2017 Manifesto costs over £600 billion. Since then, they’ve made even more reckless promises, loading another £590 billion onto the taxpayer. This is on top of what the Government already spends.

Commitments included in these figures are:

• Renationalising rail, energy networks, water and postal services: £196 billion
• A 32-hour working week: £85 billion
• Piloting a Universal Basic Income – a free-for-all handout to everyone including prisoners and the super-rich: £4.5 billion
• Guaranteeing all energy workers a job – such as those working in the oil and gas industry: £8.7 billion
• Setting up tenants’ unions across the country: £20 million
• Free bus travel for under 25s: £7 billion
• Home insulation and refurbishments: £30 billion

The full costings have been laid out in a comprehensive dossier which is attached. These staggering costs could increase when Labour publish their manifesto in the coming weeks.

Commenting, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, said:

“Today we can reveal the numbers that Labour did not want you to see: the true ‘Cost of Corbyn’ is a staggering £1.2 trillion.

“Now is the time for responsible investment not reckless borrowing. We simply cannot afford Corbyn’s spending spree that would saddle our children with huge amounts of debt and undo all the hard work of the British people in recent years.

“Every time Labour get into power they spend beyond their means, leaving our country on the brink of bankruptcy. But Corbyn’s Labour is planning to embark on a record – and truly frightening - spending splurge. We are all still paying the price for the debt that the last Labour Government racked up, but this would be three times worse.

“Corbyn’s plans are the equivalent of scrapping all funding for the NHS for the next nine years. And as one of Corbyn’s most senior allies has warned: ‘the British people will pay for this’.

“A vote for Corbyn’s Labour would mean the chaos of another two referendums and frightening levels of debt that would take us decades to pay off. Only a majority Conservative Government would get Brexit done and spend money sensibly on people’s priorities. We simply cannot afford the cost of Corbyn.”

Read the full cost breakdown here: